Family upset after murdered Oshawa man’s memorial removed by City

Shon Hart’s 2006 murder remains unsolved

Family upset after murdered Oshawa man’s memorial removed by City

It’s been eight years since an Oshawa man was murdered on a local bike path, but his family, still holding out hope that his attacker will be caught, is upset the City recently removed a homemade memorial dedicated to him. They placed the memorial on the bike path because they’re still holding out hope that someone who saw something or knows something about the murder will come forward.

Memorial bike path

Ryan Pfeiffer / Metroland

OSHAWA -- Tammylee Milligan was Shon Hart's partner and the mother of his four children, from left, Shanon Hart-Milligan, Chantelle Hart-Milligan, Shona Hart-Milligan and Bruce Hart-Milligan. Shon was murdered on July 2, 2006. Ms. Milligan and the children come to Oshawa several times a year to place a memorial along the bike path. The family is upset that the memorial gets swept away quickly by the City. July 11, 2014.

Memorial

Submitted Photo

OSHAWA -- Shon Hart's family members placed this memorial on the Oshawa bike path where Mr. Hart was murdered eight years ago. The family was upset City staff removed it within 12 hours. July 2.

Memorial

Submitted photo

OSHAWA — Shon Hart was attacked on an Oshawa bike path near Mill Street on July 2, 2006. His murder remains unsolved.

OSHAWA -- It’s been eight years since an Oshawa man was murdered on a local bike path, but his family, still holding out hope that his attacker will be caught, is upset the City recently removed a homemade memorial dedicated to him.

Shon Hart was attacked the evening of July 2, 2006 on the bike path near the Mill Street bridge crossing the Oshawa Creek. He struggled up the path, bleeding from a stab wound, to a housing complex on Centre Street where his mother lived, shattering a ground-level patio door with one last burst of strength.

The 31-year-old died before emergency workers could get to him. The crime remains unsolved.

Mr. Hart left behind his partner Tammylee Milligan and their four children -- Chantelle, Shona, Shannon and Bruce Hart-Milligan.

The family now lives in Barrie, but they visit Oshawa every year on the anniversary of Mr. Hart’s death and place a memorial on the path. In previous years it has involved spray painting the path but this year they decided to place a large white board sign with Mr. Hart’s name and the words “taken never forgotten” and “unsolved”. It was surrounded by rocks painted by Mr. Hart’s children and their cousins.

“We used to call him the King of Hearts so I painted the King of Hearts sign on the side,” said Chantelle of the rock she decorated.

They placed the memorial on the bike path because they’re still holding out hope that someone who saw something or knows something about the murder will come forward.

“In my mind he walks the path all the time,” said Ms. Milligan of Mr. Hart’s attacker.

The memorial was removed by City staff within 12 hours of it being placed.

“I was devastated,” said Chantelle. “We spent hours and hours preparing the sign.”

Bill Slute, manager of parks operations, said City workers were forced to remove the memorial because it was large and too close to the path and presented a safety hazard.

Oshawa does not have an official policy about memorials on public land.

“We’ve had them installed in parks as long as they’re not impacting the public or being unsafe, we allow them to stay,” he said. “In this particular case it was so close to the side of the trail.”

He said workers carefully collected the memorial in the hope that the family would pick it up, which is what happened.

“We’re glad they came forward so we could chat with them and explain it to them,” he said. A bench that was placed at the site by the family in prior years was also removed by the City as it did not meet the City’s standards for safety.

Meanwhile, Ms. Milligan said she knows some of the memorials, such as the spray paint, may sound like vandalism, but she said she tried every other method she could think of to raise awareness of the case, including putting flyers in every mailbox in the neighbourhood.

“It’s been eight years and it’s going to get colder and colder,” she said of the case.

The family left Oshawa about two years after the murder but never gave up hope that the crime will be solved.

As the oldest child, 18-year-old Chantelle has the clearest memory of her father.

“I grew up daddy’s girl, to just have him taken uprooted our whole life ... someday I might have closure because the right person might see the sign and say something,” said Chantelle.

Mr. Slute said there are opportunities to dedicate a tree or bench to Mr. Hart under the City’s commemorative tree and bench program. He said staff would work with the family to make sure it was placed as close to the site as possible.

But Ms. Milligan says the costs are too high -- a tree is $500 while a bench ranges from $1,700 to $2,500 --and beyond that the family feels that because it’s an unsolved murder, it warrants more prominence than a simple memorial.

The family is working on plans to draw more attention to the cold case.

The path where Mr. Hart was killed still bears faded graffiti markings noting his death.

The markings are faint, just like the hopes that Mr. Hart’s killer will be caught, but his family refuses to let either fully fade away.

Anyone with information about the Mr. Hart’s homicide should contact the Durham Regional Police Homicide Unit at 1-888-579-1520 ext. 5400 or Crimestoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or online at www.durhamregionalcrimestoppers.ca. Tipsters may be eligible for a $2,000 cash reward.

Reporter Reka Szekely covers the City of Oshawa for Metroland Media Group’s Durham Region Division. Reka's social media column appears every other week. Contact her on Facebook, Twitter (@rszekely)

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(4) Comment

By Linda|JULY 19, 2014 03:40 PM

I have seen other memorials around Oshawa such as the white bike up against a hydro pole, flowers and such.. this is not blocking the path it is off to the side of the path out of the way what is the harm??
Further more maybe at night this path should be patrolled by police and proper lighting for those who do choose to use the path at night possibly some pay phones may have prevented his children as well as family from going through this!!
Some one explain to me why the police are not solving this!

It is time that the City starts to understand that it is the people of Oshawa who are the ones whose needs are to be met, not those who work for the City. This is just gross overreaction and the Mayor and Staff owe this family a public apology and allow them to recreate the memorial.

Is this the only solution? Did any staff member offer to help move the memorial or provide warning signage? Once again, we are seeing that compassion is not in the bureaucratic tool box. How many persons complained? How many accidents have been recorded? How negligent do you have to be as a path user to walk into an inanimate object? I would be surprised if there were any complaints at all. What is next? Are we going to remove all the trees because people could walk into them?

We live in sad times it seems. The Region of Durham is quick to solve the hideous crime of leaving a wreath to commemorate a lost family member (much like those white cars tagging you at the mall for stopping your vehicle for 30 seconds while picking up Grandma from The Bay) but no manpower is available to solve a murder.